fontman
08-02-06, 08:28 AM
The half-naked and the dread
Heat brings out shirtless men, and not everyone's hot on the idea
By MEGAN TWOHEY and REID EPSTEIN
mtwohey@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 1, 2006
The scorching heat brings out the beast in us all - crankiness, sweatiness, general malaise.
For certain members of the male gender, it brings out a beast of another sort: the desire to go shirtless in public.
As the temperature hovers in the high 90s, the half-naked are multiplying. Simply put, they're everywhere! Driving cars. Running errands. Lounging at cafes.
These bare-chested men - in all shapes and sizes - say the weather offers them no choice. They must strip down.
But many women, and some men, are put off by the exposed torsos. They've got a message for the half-naked: PUT YOUR SHIRTS ON!
"It's indecent exposure," Monier Abdel Masid, 29, said as he watched a shirtless man cruise by on Brady St. "That guy had more hair on his chest than on his head."
It's not just Milwaukee.
In England, where record-breaking summer heat has brought out a record number of the shirtless, a local lawmaker has called for half-naked men to be banned from the streets. He says they're a danger to the economy.
"There is a problem," Nicholas Bennett told the Daily Mail. "In my part of the country, we are trying to revitalize the main shopping precinct. But one of the things that is depressing for anyone going shopping is the numbers of shaven-headed men, mainly in their 30s and 40s, who seem to think people want to see their torsos."
In Milwaukee, Johnnie Johnson, 45, doesn't make a habit of stripping off his shirt. And he knows he doesn't have the trimmest figure.
"It's a keg," Johnson says of his rotund middle.
But this week, the weather has been unbearable for him, and he's crossed over to the shirtless.
"I'm hot and bothered," said Johnson, who was working to remodel Mel's on Water, 158 E. Juneau Ave. "I just don't care."
Marcus Doucette, who was wearing camouflage shorts and tennis shoes, offered a similar defense. He said it had been years since he went shirtless in public.
"Generally, I'm too polite," Doucette, 31, said as he sat outside a cafe on Brady St. "But this weather is not polite. You have to surrender to it."
But don't let the shirtless fool you. It's not just the heat that motivates them.
"It's for the tan," said Jim Wissing, who was riding his bike shirtless.
Riding a red moped down Waukesha's North St., Scott Grundman wore a tattered pair of jean shorts, Speedo flip-flops and dark sunglasses.
Grundman dispensed with his shirt for the 15-mile ride from his home in Waukesha to Pewaukee Lake and back.
"If you drive around like this when it's 70 or 75 degrees outside, you feel it," he said. "It's cold." But at nearly 100 degrees, it's just right at 32 mph, the moped's top speed.
Ed Burgess, 53, an Oklahoma native, said being shirtless reminded him of his childhood, when he'd wear nothing but cutoffs all summer long.
"It brings out the kid in me," he said.
Some men claim that baring their breasts is popular with the babes.
Luke Sivyer, a trim 20-year-old with long brown hair, strips down regularly once the temperature tops 80. He walks shirtless to and from the grocery store and coffee shop, throwing his shirt on when he goes indoors. It's not uncommon for females to lean out of their cars and whistle.
"I appreciate that girls don't mind looking at me," Sivyer said as he sauntered down Brady St. in red basketball shorts, his gray T-shirt flung through the straps of his messenger bag.
So does Randy Johns, 23, of Cudahy, who goes without a shirt "whenever I start sweating." On Tuesday, he said, a handful of women driving past him responded to his sweaty, bare chest with honks and shouts of encouragement.
But most women aren't cheering. Many say that seeing tummies turns them off.
"It bothers me," said Carolyn Watson, 37. "I don't want to see it."
And as Ilana Gilber, 32, put it, "If we have to stay covered, why can't they?"
Heat brings out shirtless men, and not everyone's hot on the idea
By MEGAN TWOHEY and REID EPSTEIN
mtwohey@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 1, 2006
The scorching heat brings out the beast in us all - crankiness, sweatiness, general malaise.
For certain members of the male gender, it brings out a beast of another sort: the desire to go shirtless in public.
As the temperature hovers in the high 90s, the half-naked are multiplying. Simply put, they're everywhere! Driving cars. Running errands. Lounging at cafes.
These bare-chested men - in all shapes and sizes - say the weather offers them no choice. They must strip down.
But many women, and some men, are put off by the exposed torsos. They've got a message for the half-naked: PUT YOUR SHIRTS ON!
"It's indecent exposure," Monier Abdel Masid, 29, said as he watched a shirtless man cruise by on Brady St. "That guy had more hair on his chest than on his head."
It's not just Milwaukee.
In England, where record-breaking summer heat has brought out a record number of the shirtless, a local lawmaker has called for half-naked men to be banned from the streets. He says they're a danger to the economy.
"There is a problem," Nicholas Bennett told the Daily Mail. "In my part of the country, we are trying to revitalize the main shopping precinct. But one of the things that is depressing for anyone going shopping is the numbers of shaven-headed men, mainly in their 30s and 40s, who seem to think people want to see their torsos."
In Milwaukee, Johnnie Johnson, 45, doesn't make a habit of stripping off his shirt. And he knows he doesn't have the trimmest figure.
"It's a keg," Johnson says of his rotund middle.
But this week, the weather has been unbearable for him, and he's crossed over to the shirtless.
"I'm hot and bothered," said Johnson, who was working to remodel Mel's on Water, 158 E. Juneau Ave. "I just don't care."
Marcus Doucette, who was wearing camouflage shorts and tennis shoes, offered a similar defense. He said it had been years since he went shirtless in public.
"Generally, I'm too polite," Doucette, 31, said as he sat outside a cafe on Brady St. "But this weather is not polite. You have to surrender to it."
But don't let the shirtless fool you. It's not just the heat that motivates them.
"It's for the tan," said Jim Wissing, who was riding his bike shirtless.
Riding a red moped down Waukesha's North St., Scott Grundman wore a tattered pair of jean shorts, Speedo flip-flops and dark sunglasses.
Grundman dispensed with his shirt for the 15-mile ride from his home in Waukesha to Pewaukee Lake and back.
"If you drive around like this when it's 70 or 75 degrees outside, you feel it," he said. "It's cold." But at nearly 100 degrees, it's just right at 32 mph, the moped's top speed.
Ed Burgess, 53, an Oklahoma native, said being shirtless reminded him of his childhood, when he'd wear nothing but cutoffs all summer long.
"It brings out the kid in me," he said.
Some men claim that baring their breasts is popular with the babes.
Luke Sivyer, a trim 20-year-old with long brown hair, strips down regularly once the temperature tops 80. He walks shirtless to and from the grocery store and coffee shop, throwing his shirt on when he goes indoors. It's not uncommon for females to lean out of their cars and whistle.
"I appreciate that girls don't mind looking at me," Sivyer said as he sauntered down Brady St. in red basketball shorts, his gray T-shirt flung through the straps of his messenger bag.
So does Randy Johns, 23, of Cudahy, who goes without a shirt "whenever I start sweating." On Tuesday, he said, a handful of women driving past him responded to his sweaty, bare chest with honks and shouts of encouragement.
But most women aren't cheering. Many say that seeing tummies turns them off.
"It bothers me," said Carolyn Watson, 37. "I don't want to see it."
And as Ilana Gilber, 32, put it, "If we have to stay covered, why can't they?"